The company sent a similar amendment to retailers last fall asking certain dealers to stop purchasing Giro shoes. That situation ended up in the courts when Giro owner Bell Sports sued Specialized for unfair and unlawful business practices. Easton Bell Sports dropped the suit two months later.

This has basically been going on for a while. Specialized doesn't like competing with other brands in store so to become a dealer at all basically means you become a primarily specialized store with a couple boutique brands. They want to dominate the lower end and midrange bike market and accessories in store but leave higher end options open for people who know more what they're looking at which is why they allow the boutique brands since they don't pose as much as a threat because fewer high end bikes are sold. Keeps the high end buyers happy and makes specialized the only option for midrange and lower so they have a monopoly in store so they can make new customers/riders specialized loyalists.

I used to work in a large shop that was big enough to carry cannondale and specialized and the specialized reps always shit talked cannondale and they wanted the shop to drop cannondale but the shop was big enough that they didn't have to bow to specialized's demands.

They are doing what happened to the car marketAt one point you could go into a car garage and be faced with 2 or 3 brands on the shop floor Now the likes of BMW aUDi have taken it upon themselves to say well if you walk in here you only going to buy a Audi or a BMWThe concept stores I thought answered that for Specialized but it such a small part of the marketIf I were a shop owner selling bikes I would never allow one manufacturer to dictate what I can and cannot stock no matter how important that Specialized was

Being in sales I can understand the approach from Specialized. Theyre looking for key dealers to give them brand exclusivity. Nothing different from what Trek did with the concept stores. Specialized has done a great deal of marketing and branding to elevate the brand in the last couple years. Theyve pursued some of the top riders and teams in the world to showcase bikes, clothing and helmets. In a sport that we constantly see sponsors abandoning and teams merging is the big S really that bad? They Sponser Saxo Bank Tinkoff, OPQ, Astana, Lampre, Lululemon, Sigma Sports, Giant Strawberry Farms and a number of individual athletes. Other brands are starting to emulate Specialized by extending the products they sell to include more than just bicycles. Brands like Scott are now expanding product lines to include helmets, shoes, etc... Im sure they also have a contract with retailers to carry the entire product line up for certain perks to the shop or ownership. I know for a fact in my local area they pulled out of a store because they didnt see the volume they thought the shop would produce. At the end of the day its a business and its all about turning a profit.

Being in sales I can understand the approach from Specialized. Theyre looking for key dealers to give them brand exclusivity. Nothing different from what Trek did with the concept stores. Specialized has done a great deal of marketing and branding to elevate the brand in the last couple years. Theyve pursued some of the top riders and teams in the world to showcase bikes, clothing and helmets. In a sport that we constantly see sponsors abandoning and teams merging is the big S really that bad? They Sponser Saxo Bank Tinkoff, OPQ, Astana, Lampre, Lululemon, Sigma Sports, Giant Strawberry Farms and a number of individual athletes. Other brands are starting to emulate Specialized by extending the products they sell to include more than just bicycles. Brands like Scott are now expanding product lines to include helmets, shoes, etc... Im sure they also have a contract with retailers to carry the entire product line up for certain perks to the shop or ownership. I know for a fact in my local area they pulled out of a store because they didnt see the volume they thought the shop would produce. At the end of the day its a business and its all about turning a profit.

I completely understand the practice... but it seems like it would/will have the effect of making an LBS feel more like a big-box store. I also don't like Spec's cookie-cutter approach to bike fitting, accessorizing, trim levels, etc. They're pushing awfully hard for market domination. I just hope that people ultimately push back hard enough.

Pretty much agree with the general consensus. My beef with them is that no matter what you go into a shop looking for they end up shoving a Specialized product down your throat before you even finish telling them what you were looking for in particular. I went in for some Fizik microtex in white specifically so it wouldnt get dirty as easily/often, and the shop guy tried to talk me into black Specialized tape even though i mentioned several times i wanted white, and that i wanted it to match my white saddle. BTW i dont dislike Spedialized products, i ride a Romin carbon saddle and like it a lot, as well as having an Allez for awhile. I just dont agree with the way they push so hard and basically dismiss other brands in my personal experiences

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